Title: First Sights
Series: The Reclaiming of Khazad Dum
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Author: Endaewen
Rating: G
Disclaimer: None of the settings or the basic premise of the story belongs to me. All of it belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and his family.
Summary: The fourth in a series of short scenes concerning the re-colonization of Khazad Dum.
Note: The idea for this story/series comes from the Peoples of Middle-Earth: And the line of Dain prospered, ... until there arose again for the last time an heir of that House that bore the name of Durin, and he returned to Moria...(HOME XII.278)

Scholars note: I am gathering together an account of these important times in our past from the numerous partial records from the archives in the hope of making one volume in the form of a narrative for those who are interested in our history. I mention this here because I am starting to quote from the records themselves.

Burrin, Junior Archivist of Khazad Dum

Early the next day everyone was ready to go and see their ancient home for themselves. By mid-morning they were ready to go. Everyone was going along, save only a strong guard force of about fifty to protect the camp, just in case.

First, they made a short detour, however. The majority of the Dwarves wanted to see the Mirrormere, that spot immortalized in their legends where Durin had seen the crown of stars. It was only a short stop though, and they went down in small groups to stand quietly for a short time near the crumbling pillar that still marked the location of that long ago event. Soon enough they were on their way again.

There was a feeling of excitement in the air. Not even suppressed excitement as there had been since the mountains came clearly into view, a scene most of the dwarves recognized as it had been painted and carved on so many surfaces within their homes, but outright excitement at seeing the place where the founder of the first line of the Dwarves had chosen to live.

Once the ruined stone gates, framing the opening into the mountains came into view, despite the general quiet of the company, there was a low murmuring sound from many of the dwarves there. The gates had long since been destroyed, by what agency however was now unknown. Not even their legends said for sure, but there had been some suspicion of battering rams, and perhaps magic involved.

However, the group fell utterly silent on entering the carven hall. Despite the destruction, the remains of which was clearly present and visible, there was a majesty still to be seen. All of the carvings had been defaced somehow, through breakage, the carving of graffiti and the untold years of weather, and there was a thick layer of debris everywhere. Most of the litter, it was decided had been blown in through the open doors over the centuries. There was little or no sign of any tracks other than those of animals, save for those of the Dwarven scouts who had traveled through the hall the previous day.

Soon enough they came to the great chasm which had been reported by the scouts, as well as the remains of both the original stone bridge as well as the crude wooden one. After a short discussion, the consensus was that the scouts had made the right decision not to risk crossing it and a small number of the dwarves turned back. Within a short time, they had returned, carrying several fresh tree trunks. Quickly, they duplicated the first wooden bridge and were able to cross into the deeper reaches of the mines. Once they were on the other side of the chasm and crossing to the openings marking the various entrances onto the hall, the marks of some ancient fire became visible. After the chasm, the scholars were slow to catch up, and lagged at the back of the group for a period of time. It turned out that they were debating whether the defense which they had just crossed was based on a natural fault or was entirely created by the ancient Dwarves. The ancient scorch marks simply added another item for their endless study.

All this had taken time though, it was now shortly past noon and they had yet to pass the first hall. Once in the corridors beyond the hall, the amount of litter dropped dramatically, as did the amount of light. They now had to light the torches the group had been carrying.

Although Khazad Dum was originally designed and constructed to have plenty of light, now, thousands of years later many of the original shafts built for light and ventilation had fallen in, had been purposely destroyed or were otherwise no longer functional. The dwarves had been prepared for this and each was carrying a bundle containing several torches.

Even in the dim and flickering red light of the torches, the ruined majesty of the ancient mines was visible to the newly returned colonists. The grace of the arching ceilings, the proportions of the pillars, it was hidden in them. Perhaps the other races such as Men, or even the few remaining Eldar would miss it, but the Dwarves could see it.

They were slowed down even more shortly after, when they discovered cracks and gaps in the corridor floor in front of them. Despite the obstacles this caused, the scholars were, surprisingly to the rest of the group, who had already thought of them as odd, actually happy to see it. When questioned on that, they responded that it was because it agreed with several statements in the accounts they had found, making it more likely that the rest of the documents in question were accurate.

All that it meant to the rest of the company was that it was going to be even more work and more danger for them as they tried to make a new home of the ancient place. This was proved by the one corridor going up several flights of stairs off the side of the entry hall that was found to have been blocked by a rockfall. A couple of hours later, having mapped out two or three halls in from each of the accessible entries, the Dwarves returned to the campsite in the rapidly deepening twilight.

In this first exploration, no sign of any orcs or other evil beings had been found by any of the group. In fact, the only signs of any life which had been found were a few old torch-stubs. The consensus was that they had been left by the same people who had created the original wooden bridge.

A full day after their first sight of the ancient mansion, the Dwarves who had been a part of the expedition still felt the awe of that first sight. Even the non-scholars forming the majority of the group were talking of the ancient knowledge they were hoping to find. Although, in their case, it wasn't knowledge of history they had hopes of finding, but lost crafting, mining or building techniques.

Given the lack of any signs of danger, Durin relaxed some of the rules of the camp, allowing for larger fires and less of a stress on silence. That night the camp was filled with the songs of Durin's folk celebrating their ancient home.